Folding mechanism for printing presses



Jan 6, 1931. H. LANG 1,787,945

FOLDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSE'S Original Filed April 22. 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I ill 1 mm "7" .1 31 i II l IIlllillllllmilllllfljll'ilillllllllilllliillllllllllllllll Jan 6, 1931. H. LANG FOLDING MECHANISQ FOR PRINTING PRESSES Original Filed April 22. 1922 3 SheetsSheet 2 Jan 6, 1931. H. LANG FOLDING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES U- am Patented J an. 6, 1931 I I U ITSTAIE HUBERT Lan on onIoAGo, ILLINoIsnssIGivon 'ro THE Goss PRINTING rImss COM? PA1\T Y,:0F CHICAGO, ILLINoIs, ACORPORATION or ILLINOIS c 1 FOLDING- MECHANISM FORPRINTING ranssns". I

Applicati on filed Apri122f1922, Serial No.5 ai 5'. l Rene ed October 2a, 1920.

My inventionrelates to printingpresses, and has particularly to do with mechanism by Which the printed sheets are renew-ra t versely prior to their delivery from the pressi 5 In newspaper perfectingpresses it iscommon to conduct the longitudinally folded papers to a folding cylinder equipped with'grippers or equivalent deviceswhich hold the-leading end of the sheets, so as to carry them around the cylinder until a folding blade, also carried'by the cyli'nder, comes into action and projects, the center line of the sheets out be: tween co-acting folding rollers which then take the sheets from the cylinder and complete. the transverse fold and-advance the folded paper to suitable delivery mechanism such as a rotating flyc, Heretofo re these folding rollers have'beengeared directly together so that they rotate opposite directions, but

this direct connection is objectionable because it does not permit of any great amount of adjustment of therollerstoward or from each other to accommodate newspapers of differ ent sizes, since movement of'the'rollersaway from each other separates to a greater or less extent the pinions by which theyare geared together, so that they do not mesh properly.- In the case of metropolitan newspapers, the number of pages may varygreatlyon differs ent days, so that whereas on'some days the folding rollers should be'setquiteclose to getl1er,on other days they must be set a considerable] distance apart' to accommodate a v forty-eightor sixty-four page paper, foreX- ample, and' such a wide' range; of adjustment cannot be satisfactorily provided for where the folding. rollers are driven in the manner above described. The object of my invention is to overcome this difficulty, and to'pro'vide 40 an arrangement for driving'the foldingrollers by which any desir'ed adjustment of 'the rollers toward or from each other he ob tained without interfering with their proper cooperation with each other or with thefold'f ing cylinder. This object I' accomplish'as hereinafter described and as illustrated in the drawings. What I regard-as new set forth inthe claims. f

In'the accompanying drawingsfl F' g. 1 is a side elevation ofpar't ofa ing pressframe," partlybroken away to show the mounting of the folding rollers;

Fig.2 is a partialvertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the intermediate; portions of the folding cylinder and rollers being omitted; 1 r l- I Fig.3 is air-enlarged sectionalzdetailjillustrating'themannerin which the foldinglrollers are s uljust'ablymounted;

,Figx l' is a vertical'section on line 44 of ZJTig. 5 is a section on line 5-5-5. of Fig. 3; Fig. his a perspective View showing one of the wedge blocks used .inthe arrangement shown in Fig. 5, and Fig. 7 is a substantially horizontal cross-section taken on line 7- .7 of Fig. '1'; the fly being omitted.

R eferri g to the drawings- W indicates the frame of thepress and 8 the folding cylindemwhich, as indicated dotted lines, ispro-vided' with'the usualfolding blade 9.

The devices for operating the folding blade andthe gripping devices, or other equivalent means for takingthe leading end of the sheets, are not shown, as their construction and operation are wellknownto those famil-v iar with the art. 10 indicates the'folding cylinderfshaft, on one end [of which are mounted gears 11, 12, .best shownin' Fig. 2, the gear12 being of slightly greater diameter than thegear'11. lhe purpose of the gear 11 is to drive the shaft 10, and to this end "it meshes with a gear 18 mounted on a shaft 14 and driven by a'geari15 mounted on ajshaft16; The gear 15 maybe connected with some other part of 't-hepress or may be driven iniany other suitable way. 7

.117, 18 ind'cate the rollers hereinbefore referred to, which are {mounted adjacent to the folding cylinder ,8 in such position that'the folding b'ladei9p'r0 I j'ects the bjight of. thesheets, in between them sothat they take it ifromgthe 'cylind'erfand impart to it the transverse fold. The 'm an her in which :these folding rollers are] adjusted toward or fromeach other will be here two 'co-acting folding ina'fter'. eXplaihedQand' the mechanism by i which they'are' driven willbe described first. The roller'17 is 'mounted on ashaft 19, upon amend portion of whichis a pinion 20 which meshes with the gear 12 as shown in Fig. 2,

and as .said gear is slightly larger than the gear 11, which is of the same diameter as the.

cylinder 8, it will be obvious that the folding roller 17 will be driven'at a slightly greater surfacespee'd than thatot the to-lding cylinders. The, folding roller18 is mounted on a shaft21, which carries a'pinion 22 of the same diameter as the pinion and. arranged t nieshwith-ageai '23 mounted on a stud 7 24 as shown in-Fi g. 2; The stud-24' also car- Ties 25 o ghtly less d amete than the gear'23, and arranged-to mesh with the gear 15 as sh wn in Figs. l and 2. It will be seen, therefore, that the folding roller'18 is dr ven fr m the g r-1, hrough separate gearing from that which drives the folding roller- 17 but at the same surfacespeed' as the latter, owing;to the fact that the gear 23. is

su ici n y lar rthan the a 2 D 3 thisresult. It will also be apparent that f lding rollers 17,; 18 will rotatein opposite di e t-ions, ale-indi ated y the a o s n;

I shown in Fig.1.

1. The' object of driving these rollers at V higher surface speedthan the-cylinder 8 is 'to cause the speed of the folded sheets to be aecelerated as they are removed from the folding Cylinder. After passing between the folding rollers 17, 18 the sheets are} delivered in any suitable way, as by means of a fiy26.

' The manner in which the folding roller 17' ins-mounted is best shown in Figs. .3 and; 5,

Y from an inspection ofwhich it will be seen that the shaft 19 of said roller is mounted in suitable earings '27 carried by pl lng-ers 2,8 which are fitted in boxes29 at opposite sides of thepress. Ea-chef the plungers 28 is provided Witlia games, theouter end of which is] screw threaded and .projectsthrough the 7 outer end of the box. Upon the outer end of the stem .30 is mounted a nut 31, and between said nut and the adjacent end of the 139x29 is a. wedge plate 32 cooperating with the cor respondingly'wedge faced nut. 31 or box 29 j and havin'g aj'rslot 3-3 which embraces the stem 30, as shownin Fig. 5 Mounted upon the st mfiflr wi nt bo s. a spring 3.4 which tends to project the plunger 2-8, and, there?v fore, y moving the wedge block; .32 t ans: verselythe plunger may be movedendwise to a' greater or. lessextent against the tension of the spring 34, thereby adjusting the position' or the folding roller 1"('.wi t hl 'respeet to the foldingf roller '18. For theipnrpose of:

' wedge blocks '32 at opposite sides of the press,

rthey are-provided with internally serew thr aded v s .75. fi t p a tr n v rse ling any sniteble wey 1 By th s wristreetiei lbi rod 36 proyided with a hand wheel bf'LQlotb eri sn ta le me s y hich d ro may be retet d- Said 7 rod is held again t ndw se mov eet bye ack t 38 Show gi wh ehis ecur d o. the r me of eness n rotating the rod 36 in one direction or the other the wedge blocks 32'may be moved transversely of the box 29, thereby moving the plungers 28 longitudinally of said box. As

shown in Fig. 1, the box 29 is disposed approx mately tangentially with reference to thepoint on the "gear 12 at which the pinion 2Q meshes with it, so that when the position of the folding roller 17 is adjusted in the manner-described its pinion 20 'will continue in tull meshwith thegear- 12, notwithstanducb, adju ment:

erly with reference-to the folding blade, and,

H p Consequently, said.

'fol" ing roller will a'lways be properly driven. is best aeeemplished. by disposing the therefore, as shown in-Figs. 3 and 4, I have provided means by which-theroller 18 may also .be so adjusted; As shown in said figures, theshaft of theroller 18 ismounted in bearings 39.1carried by plungers 40, which are mounted in boxes 41 similar in some respects to the boxes, 29; Each of the plungers 4Q is provided with a stem 42,.which projects through the outer end of. its box and is externally threaded as shown in Fig. 3. Mounted upnn the; threaded'portion of said stem-is a worm wheel 43, which is fitted in a recess in the outerportion of thebox and meshes withv a worm45 non-rotatably secured ona rod 45, whieh 'extends transversely of T the pressv and is provided with a hand wheel gtZ or othersuitable means by which it may berotated; By. this construction rotation of the rodetfi operates through the worms 45 and worm wheels .43 to move-the plungers 4.0w longitudinally through. their respective 7 boxes, thereby adjusting the roller 18 toward and frolnffihe roller 17. The boxes 41 are supported on the. frameof the press prefer ably by means oibrackets 48, and for the purposeof facilitatingiaceiirate adjustment of 'theroller; 118.1 providean indicator wheel 49,

whichis in the-form of a worm wheel mountred-on a stud 5Q secured to one of the brackets warm. wh fil meshes with the under d Qtt e. w rmed asshow in Fig 3 and- ,;s t at w eneve tfie me; 46 is rotated the-indicator w eel- 9 isa1sO un a fix d. p ntewl ay, beasseci te with said indicator-wheel to. showthe extent to which v in either iree eairom ba P s on: 1.3x; wastrwtieedes r bes t e t said indicator wheel may have been rotated 7 consequently, their adjustment toward or from each otherin no way affects their driving connections. They may, therefore, be moved as far apart as may be necessary to-- accommodate thick papers without in the.

least impairing their efficiency, and their adjustment may be very easily and quickly ,efi'ected without modifying any of the other parts of the mechanism.

So far as I am aware, I am the first in the art to provide separately driven folding rollers associated with a folding cylinder for the purpose stated, and the claims hereinafter made are, therefore, to be construed accordingly.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1 The combination with a folding cylinder, of co-actin'g folding rollers, and separate driving connections for rotating said rollers in opposite directions at an accelerated surface speed as compared with that of the cylinder.

2. The combination with a folding cylin-1 der, of co-acting folding rollers, driving gearing connecting one of said rollers with said cylinder and operating to drive said roller at an accelerated surface speed, and

separate means for driving the other roller at the same speed as 'thatof said first mentioned roller.

3. The combination with a folding cylinder, of co-acting folding rollers associated therewith, driving gearing connecting one of said rollers with said cylinder and operating to drive said roller at an accelerated surface speed, separate means for drivin the other roller at the same speed as thatof said firstmentioned roller, and means operable to'vary the normal width of the space between said rollers. V i 1 4. The combination with a folding cylinder,'of co-acting folding'rollers associated therewith, plungers supporting one of said rollers, driving gearing connecting the other of said rollers with said cylinder, and means forv adjustably' supporting the latter roller comprising plungers disposed at an'angle to said first-mentioned plunger's.

5. The combination with a folding .cylin' der, of co-acting folding rollers, and means for adjustably supporting oneof said rollers comprising plungers upon which said roller is mounted, springs tending to move said plungers in one direction, wedges operable" to move said plungers against the tension of said springs, and means for moving said wedgesin either direction.

6. The combination with a folding cylinder, of co-acting folding rollers disconnected from each other, separate gearing for driving said rollers, and means for adjustably supporting one of said rollerscomprising plungers upon which said roller is mounted, and

wedges.

-wormgearing' for moving said plungersend W186 in unison to move said roller towardor from the other.

justed position, and rotary indexing means taking its motion from the adjusting means for indicating the departure of said rollers from the central line. I j

4 8. In aprintingpress folder, the'combination-o'f afolding cylinder having'a blade, c0- acting gear driven folding rollers, meansoperablel to adjust both of said rollers towards or from each other, said means including a manually rotatableshaftbearing a pair of worms, worm gears driven by 'Sfild. worms,

and threaded rods on which said worm wheels are mounted, said rods controlling the position of one of said rollers with respect to the other, and separate driving means for r0- tating said rollers in opposite directions. 7 V v 9. A printingpress folder including in combination a folding cylinder having a folding blade, a pair of folding rollers coacting with the folding blade, and devices for. moving both folding rollers equal distances towardand from: a central line which corresponds to the folding position of the -folding-'blade, to fold products of "different thicknesses. 110.:A printing press folder including in combination-a rotating folding cylinder, a folding blade rotatably mounted onthe cylinder, and adapted to strike'a fold on a predetermined line, as the cylinder is rotating, apair of folding off rollers'adjacent to and coacting with the folding cylinder and its blade, devices for'moving both said rollers equal distances toward and from said predeterminedline of strike of the rotating fold ingsblade, and meansfor driving said rollers in any of their several positions. 1. .1 1.5In a printing press folder, the combinationjwiththe folding cylinder and-its blade, of a pair of cooperating folding rollers,

means for'adjust-ing both rollers-toward or -from a .centralline which'co'rresponds to the 'po sition of-the blade, and holding them in I adjustedposition, and indexing means moved by the adjusting meansfor indicating the departure of-afolding roller from the central line.

' 1.12. A; 1; folding" mechanism headin ini combination a pair of folding rollers,'means for tucking sheets into the bite of the'rollers, means for positioning a folding roller in;

cluding a pair of contacting wedges and means-for effecting relative movement'of the 13. A folding combination a'pairof folding rollers, means mechanism including in 7 Y 4 7 ms-mes for tuckingsheets into-the bite ofthejrollers, I meansfor positioninga folding 1 1191 eluding a pair of contacting ,wedgesat either -end of theroller and means for effecting relvJ, ative movement betweenlthe wedgesof each pa1r.-

. v 14. A l folding mechanism including in combination a pair of folding rollers, means fortucking sheets into the bite OfftllB rollers, 10 means for positioning a folding rolleriineluding a pair of contacting Wedgesat either .i end of the roller and-simultaneous means-for eifectingrelative movement between the Wedges of each pair.- a 1,5, A folding mechanism"including join combination a pair of, folding rollers,-means for tuckingsheets intosthe bite of the rollers, means for positioning a folding roller including a pair of contacting Wedgesand screw- Q threaded means for effecting relative-movement of the Wedges. i w 1 V 16. A folding mechanism'including in com I bination a pair of folding rollers,:means for tucking sheets into'the bite of the rollers, means for positioninga folding roller including a pair of contacting Wedges at either end Y of said-foldingroller and screwthreaded 3 means'foreifecting relative movement be- V tween-the Wedges of each pain a 1= 171A folding Vmechanismfincluding in combination a pair of folding rollers, means for tucking, sheets into the biteofthe rollers, 7 means for positioning a folding roller including a pair of contacting wedges at either end of said folding roller and screw-threaded imeans for effecting. simultaneous relative '5 movement betweenthe wedges of each pair. 18. A folding mechanism including in g V combination a pair of folding rollers,'means 7 for tucking sheets into the biteof the rollers, 1 movable, supports at either endof oneroller, a pair ofcontacting Wedges'foreach support, and means for simultaneously effecting I relative movement. between the edgesof eachv pair to'r'egulate'the space-between the i folding rollers. I 1 i 19. A folding mechanism including in combination apairof-folding rollers,;means i fortuckin'gfsheets into the "bite of the rolle'rs, V so movable supports at eitherend of'one roller, v

a pair of contacting Wedges forxeachasupport, and'means for simultaneously effecting V I relative movement betweenthewedges'of '7 t "each pair to regulate .the space between the 1 folding rollers and springs pressing, the'supports to the wedgesp .--;rr Bn r- LAN 

